The new 2017 Audi Q5 will land in Australia with a pair of petrol and diesel 2.0-litre engines first, followed by a more powerful 3.0-litre TDI engine, the company's local arm has confirmed.

There’s no confirmation yet as to whether we’ll get the performance-oriented SQ5 and there has been no global announcement of a 3.0-litre TFSI engine either to replace that engine variant currently available in the Q5 range locally.

In Australia, we’ll see the 2.0-litre models hit our shores in the third quarter of next year, while the 3.0-litre TDI will follow sometime in the first half of 2018.

And, while a new SQ5 is still to be announced, it is understood to be in the works and will likely debut internationally late next year or early in 2018.

Common sense dictates that the popularity of the SQ5 both globally and locally means we’ll certainly see an SQ5, but Audi engineers were coy when asked at the global launch of the new Q5. In Australia, the SQ5 makes up an incredible 28 per cent of all Q5 sales. And in Europe, where there is both a petrol and a diesel SQ5, the diesel engine is the most popular.

Rolf Kronstorfer, Powertrain Development for Audi AG, agreed with CarAdvice that the SQ5 is a must, given its rampant popularity around the world.

“It would be crazy not to make an SQ5, so at some point in time, we will make an SQ5,” he said.

Pressed further on why there was no RSQ5 variant available, Kronstorfer asserted that Q5 buyers get their performance fix from the SQ5 variant. “Could an RSQ5 work? I don’t know,” he said.

“Pricing is not confirmed at this stage, but we will be working hard to keep it pretty similar to where the Q5 range is priced now," Clearly said.

"The current model is still selling really well and we’d like to add equipment and as much new technology as the new model has as standard, where possible.”

Audi is likely to follow its recent trend of ‘options packages’ which make it bother easier to understand for buyers and generally more affordable when it comes to specifying the Q5 you want to buy.

“We’re working on how we package and group those options together at the moment,” Cleary said.

“The Q5 is our best selling body style in Australia. The only way the A3 beats it is the variety of all the body styles added together. The Q5 has basically set a sales record every year since it launched.”

The question of which Q5 will be the volume seller is a little harder to nail down, because both 2.0-litre engines are popular with buyers.

“We’d say the 2.0 TDI is likely to be the volume seller in Australia, but the two four-cylinder engines will be very close in overall sales volume,” Cleary said.